Absolutely. Your body can easily convert dietary protein to glucose on an as-needed basis.

Speaking of work pressure and carb traps. Food prep and consumption at the firehouse is a big part of our daily comeraderie. Add that to “The need to fit in with the Bravado of ‘Eating like a man,” and it becomes very hard not to be the food outsider. However, over time I have transformed the firehouse into non-bread eating, carb conscious eaters who have lost over 50 pounds of belly and back fat just from our shift alone.

Not sure I have a point other than to say that determination and education will turn any skeptic into a true soldier to health.

If people doubt my manhood because of my low-carb diet, I just pick up a steak and tear into it without benefit of utensils, then get myself lost and refuse to ask directions. Works every time.

If I needed rescuing from a burning building, I’d prefer my firefighter not be hefting his own big belly down the ladder in addition to mine. Sounds like you’re improving your abilities along with your health.

My family MD recently moved, and his practice was taken over by a younger MD (think 30!) who looks even younger that that. When I went for my annual visit, I politely notified her that I was pretty much going without carbohydrate completely. She didn’t even bat an eye, congratulated me on my weight loss and encouraged me to keep up with my healthy lifestyle.

I was sort of disappointed, because I had the Eadeses’ books with me, along with a slew of studies to back up my chioces and maybe educate the good doctor. But don’t get me wrong, I am very glad that she did not protest. Hopefully more MDs will see the light!

Science is often advanced by funerals. Sounds like retirements help too.

My brother, who became much huger than I ever thought about being by exceeding 300 lbs, recently just inched below 200 lbs (6’2″) on a raw vegetable and fruit diet. He’s a vegetarian, but said he used to be a “donut and pasta vegetarian.”

Are the townhalls still going on?

It’s kind of amusing … people who used to stuff themselves with sugar and starch lose weight on whole-food vegetarian diets, then people point to them as proof that carbs don’t make you fat. Well, a glass of wine per day won’t make you drunk, but a bottle of Jim Beam will. If he feels healthy without eating meat, more power to him.

Dave Dixon has a posting that goes into a study that had to be stopped because it was killing people using a drug similar to this – http://sparkofreason.blogspot.com/2008/02/insulin-insanity.html

That’s a good post. I’ve read it before, but it’s worth another look. Knocking down blood sugar with ever-higher doses of insulin or any other drug is like giving a patient higher and higher doses of aspirin or ibuprofen as he continues banging his head against the wall and giving himself a headache. You may reduce the headache, but you’ll cause a lot of other damage in the process.

I agree that their influence over doctors is part of the problem. That being said, I don’t expect a drug company to counsel people on diet; that’s the job doctors should be doing, but I’m afraid many of them lack the knowledge to do it.

It’s really maddening because all they need do is tell people to stop eating carbs. That’s what they did before insulin was available.

The ADA diet is killing people. That’s not their intention, but it sure is the result. It’s maddening indeed.

Same thing for the American version. The reasoning (if you can call it that) is that since diabetics are much more prone to heart disease, they need to be on low-fat diets. It hasn’t gotten through to them yet that it’s the high blood sugar that damages arteries.

One of the definitions of an alcoholic is someone who needs alcohol to have fun. So if you need certain foods to have fun, then perhaps your a “food-a-holic” and need treatment!